Old Sovtek 5881 vs New Sovtek 5881 Power Tubes

  • Thread starter Thread starter dead-pan
  • Start date Start date
Can't say which sounds better as I have no new ones, but the originals are still in my JTM30 and Mig50 going on 30 years.
I have a bunch of NOS for backup, but not sure I'll ever use them.
Should probably pull them and test/compare to the NOS before I get lectured about the impending doom, tbh. :ROFLMAO:
 
Jack Luminous said:
Bought some wafer base 5881 last year to re-tube and re-bias my SLO. Worked fine and sounded better after than before.
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Did either set have the date codes on them?

The older tubes I have don't have the date code like the newer.
 
I've had the NOS Russian wafer base tubes as well as the new Sovteks, and I didn't find the old were "better" to me. The old ones were very slightly darker. That's it. I kinda liked the newer ones because they were more aggressive. That's kinda the point of those wafer base 5881's to begin with, at least to me. Otherwise, I'd just get full-on 6L6's. But I guess it depends on the amp too.
 
I recall when Marshall and a bunch of other companies switched to these out of necessity in the early 90's, they didn't have the best reputation for tone (relative to the European EL34s they replaced) at the time but were known to be very durable and reliable. I believe the Soldano SLO was the first amp to be specifically designed around them, so I guess he compensated around that. I always found them to sound closer to 6L6s than EL34s but grainier than any 6L6 IMO.
 
Some of the old ones I did like a bit better and one particular quad I have that looks different sounds way better to me. There are probably certain specs to look for that I’m not aware of to get the right versions
 
dead-pan said:
Did either set have the date codes on them?

The older tubes I have don't have the date code like the newer.
Click to expand...

Just checked the newer set has a date code. Don't remember about the older one that was about 10 years old.
 
I was just thinking about this earlier this week. How ironic.

I’ve got really old sovtek 6L6GCs purchased around 2008 in my 6505+. Not much play time on them so I’ve never needed to do anything. The set before them took an ass beating for months before losing low end and top end detail. I’ve thought about putting new glass in it but have heard about the poor quality of newer construction so I haven’t bothered.
 
Rex Rocker said:
I've had the NOS Russian wafer base tubes as well as the new Sovteks, and I didn't find the old were "better" to me. The old ones were very slightly darker. That's it. I kinda liked the newer ones because they were more aggressive. That's kinda the point of those wafer base 5881's to begin with, at least to me. Otherwise, I'd just get full-on 6L6's. But I guess it depends on the amp too.
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Going to do some comparing.

It may be that the new 5881s I have are just a bad set.
 
glpg80 said:
I was just thinking about this earlier this week. How ironic.

I’ve got really old sovtek 6L6GCs purchased around 2008 in my 6505+. Not much play time on them so I’ve never needed to do anything. The set before them took an ass beating for months before losing low end and top end detail. I’ve thought about putting new glass in it but have heard about the poor quality of newer construction so I haven’t bothered.
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The build looks slightly different also.
 
braintheory said:
Some of the old ones I did like a bit better and one particular quad I have that looks different sounds way better to me. There are probably certain specs to look for that I’m not aware of to get the right versions
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This, all of the old ones are super reliable, but a handful of quads ive had have sounded a LOT better than others
 
DanTravis62 said:
This, all of the old ones are super reliable, but a handful of quads ive had have sounded a LOT better than others
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I should take pics later and see if anyone that knows more than me can tell me what specs it has to look for. My other sets look and sound the same to me besides that one quad

A lot of old Russian tubes I have are an incredible value. If money were no object, I would still recommend other stuff over them besides ‘90’s Svetlana’s (pre-Winged C), but it’s amazing how cheap you can get most vintage Russian tubes for of all types, especially with seeing recent made tubes go for more and not be as good
 
braintheory said:
I should take pics later and see if anyone that knows more than me can tell me what specs it has to look for. My other sets look and sound the same to me besides that one quad

A lot of old Russian tubes I have are an incredible value. If money were no object, I would still recommend other stuff over them besides ‘90’s Svetlana’s (pre-Winged C), but it’s amazing how cheap you can get most vintage Russian tubes for of all types, especially with seeing recent made tubes go for more and not be as good
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I'll photo mine also.

The old Svetlana I have are similar to old Mullard but Slightly more harsh.
 
The older wafer 5881s that have crimped plates are the ones to get, imo...these are from the 90s. Also, the military version Sovtek 6P3C are the best choice if you can score them. They are usually cheap but take a while to get here if shipping from Eu. Most that you find are welded plates, but the non welded are best.
Mike B told me that these wafer bottoms are great in higher PV amps like a Coliseum...they can handle the higher voltage...which makes sense since Soldano also recommended them.

Here's a pair as an example of the military version:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3555099614...ZmLPLb5GQ0aMsThyx1Wd43IQg=|tkp:Bk9SR9Kxud73ZA
 
Racerxrated said:
The older wafer 5881s that have crimped plates are the ones to get, imo...these are from the 90s. Also, the military version Sovtek 6P3C are the best choice if you can score them. They are usually cheap but take a while to get here if shipping from Eu. Most that you find are welded plates, but the non welded are best.
Mike B told me that these wafer bottoms are great in higher PV amps like a Coliseum...they can handle the higher voltage...which makes sense since Soldano also recommended them.

Here's a pair as an example of the military version:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/355509961468?_skw=Sovtek+6p3c&itmmeta=01JEYYEB35H6D9GSGDMSE5KFET&hash=item52c60b82fc:g:Q-MAAOSwRtll46WH&itmprp=enc:AQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx+KZ9MfhVJKnZlAzvwGjSo37XLuoHVuqq1CnapZTuOaVgSk5mhMlk08HHSAcHipa2Vlxtxzyz1VIVoXsa10fIx/U3+LIjS9etgyhzvqhuesEnp+iI6MrZTyEPVzN26Uoqd19FPmmdHYoCPXVryrPTonUZu4AQ32/+OOZUq4oXEzio8Fymtb6/prm/RTg4lYo7+AwPGFJF+0T9yRWEJ+0F8w6wLljiAsVO3pjqAvQlsVwzHP7zRnZmLPLb5GQ0aMsThyx1Wd43IQg=|tkp:Bk9SR9Kxud73ZA
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Interesting, that weld vs crimp is one of the design differences I saw.

Those in the link look different from both I have also.
 
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dead-pan said:
Interesting, that weld vs crimp is one of the design differences I saw.

Those in the link look different from both I have also.
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I had a sextet of those military, non welded in the C+ Coli I had, and surprisingly there wasn't as much of a difference tonally between them and the 415s I had. 415s did sound better of course but the 5881s held their own and kept a 3D tone as well.
 
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